Plant Love

Plant Love, Michael Allaby

£14.99 | ISBN: 978-0-9933892-2-1 | October 2016

Get ready for the scandalous truth about botanical sex. Who knew that bee orchids trick insects into having sex with them, avocado flowers are female one day and male the next, and some flowers are the insect equivalent of nightclubs where males and females meet and mate? Bestselling popular science author Michael Allaby reveals over 200 of nature’s most unseemly creations in this sensational exposé.

Michael Allaby is an award-winning popular science writer who has written over 100 books on plants and ecology. He edits science dictionaries for Oxford University Press and is author of two new books for gardeners, the first on weather and the second a dictionary of garden science.

Read the reviews:

“The sex life of plants did not top my list of “things one is curious about” but on reading Michael Allaby’s neat hardback I had a change of heart. There is much switching of gender and some rather modern practices, but the light-hearted tone is supplemented by genuine erudition.” Alexandra Henton, The Field

“What secret raunchiness is going on in your garden without your knowledge? No, the doggers haven’t come to town, it’s the plants that are getting naughty in this light-hearted botanical volume, packed with delightful illustrations.” Prudence Ivey, Ham & High

“Find out in this revealing stocking-filler, an expose of more than 200 of nature’s most unseemly liaisons. There’s nectar and pollen, but there are also teasers which deliver nothing and cheating among plants takes many forms. Find out how avocado flowers are female one day and male the next, how the violet really does shrink and how giraffes pollinate certain trees.” Press Association

Delve into the world of botanical sex and discover the techniques used by plants to enter into unseemly liaisons to reproduce and survive. Gardens Illustrated